THE HUMMING BIRDS. 265 



borne in mind by the collector as well as by the compiler; for, until our 

 knowledge of the range of each species within a given country is far 

 more complete than it is at the present time, we cannot sketch the 

 geographical distribution of these birds, as a group, with any degree of 

 accuracy. In order to fully appreciate this difficulty, it is only neces- 

 sary for one to understand that when the range of a species is said to 

 be "Brazil" (as in even the best of books on. the subject), no one 

 can tell whether it belongs to the true Brazilian or the Amazonian 

 province, since both are chiefly included within the area of the country 

 known politically as Brazil, though zoologically they are far more distant 

 from one another than is North America from Europe or the latter from 

 temperate Asia ! The true Brazilian Province, moreover, includes, be- 

 sides a large portion of Brazil itself, the politically distinct countries 

 of Paraguay and Uruguay, together with adjoining portions of the 

 Argentine Republic and Bolivia. 



Authorities on the subject of geographical distribution of animals 

 differ as to the relative value or importance of these faunal divisions; 

 but there is little difference of opinion as to their number and approx- 

 imate boundaries. Beginning at the south and proceeding, irregu- 

 larty, northward, they are as follows : 



I. The Patagonian or Chilian Province, embracing Tierra del Puego, 

 Falkland Islands, Chili, Patagonia, the greater part of the Argentine 

 Republic, and the southeast portion of Bolivia. 



II. The South-Brazilian Province, comprising all of Brazil south of 

 the Amazon basin, the whole of Uruguay and Paraguay, and the north- 

 east portion of the Argentine Kepublic. 



III. The Amazonian Province, including, besides the entire Amazon 

 basin (below a certain altitude upon the head streams), all of Guiana, 

 that portion of Venezuela south of the Orinoco, the Amazon water- 

 shed of Bolivia, the northeast corner of Peru, and the eastern part of 

 Ecuador and Colombia. 



IV. The Colombian Province, comprising the central and littoral 

 districts of Colombia, Venezuela north of the Orinoco (including the 

 Islands of Trinidad and Tobago), central and western Ecuador, the 

 whole of Peru except the northeast corner and the higher Andean 

 summits, and a part of western and southwestern Bolivia. 



V. The Central American Province, embracing that portion of the 

 continent from the Isthmus of Panama northward to southern Mexico, 

 where the so-called Neotropical Region merges into the so-called Nearc- 

 tic Region. 



VI. The West Indian Province, which embraces the whole of the 

 Antillean archipelago, from the Bahamas southwards, but not includ- 

 ing either Tobago or Trinidad. 



For the present purpose, however, it will be more practicable to com- 

 bine III and IV into one " province," which for convenience may be 

 termed the Colombo- Amazonian, and extend its limits to the northward 



